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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - June 18, 2013 ... Alfredo Aceves won the first game of a Red Sox sweep, 5-1, and of Felix Doubront had his best performance in the majors, a 3-1 walkoff win. Even though Andrew Bailey didn't execute in the nightcap to cost Doubront a much-deserved win, Jonny Gomes provided a win in the bottom of the ninth, with a two-run blast into the Monster seats off Joel Peralta. Gomes was so happy he punted his helmet. Normally in that situation, with a righthander throwing, Mike Carp would normally have hit for Gomes, but Peralta is tougher against lefties than righties, so Gomes got his chance. Though nobody was happier than Bailey, who, in his last appearance Saturday in Baltimore, allowed a Matt Wieters two-run homer and then hung on for the save. Nava's second-inning solo homer had stood up until Bailey's implosion. Bailey, who has given up five home runs in 221/3 innings, said there are no physical issues and that he's been watching video with pitching coach Juan Nieves and everything seems OK. The Red Sox have something over the Rays, as they have won nine times in 11 meetings this season. Doubront pitched eight shutout innings, allowing three hits, while striking out six in 93 pitches. Some 10 hours earlier, Alfredo Aceves got tied up in traffic and the Red Sox had Franklin Morales ready to warm up if the Game 1 starter couldn't make it to Fenway Park on time. But Aceves (4-1) did and allowed one run in five innings. David Ortiz drove in three runs, with a two-run single in the third and a single in the fifth before a mammoth rain delay that lasted a minute short of three hours. The Red Sox scored first off the Rays' Chris Archer, an animated righty whose mound traits are reminiscent of former Red Sox righty Oil Can Boyd. Leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury (three hits) doubled, advanced on a long fly ball to center by Shane Victorino, and scored on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly. Victorino also had a big game with a single, triple, RBI, stolen base, and two runs scored. Aceves (4-1), who has now made three decent starts while going back and forth from Pawtucket, got a little walk-happy himself in the second inning when he started the inning by losing Longoria and James Loney. With one out, Luke Scott doubled in the tying run, but, after issuing a third walk, Aceves got out of it when Yuniel Escobar bailed him out with a double-play grounder to shortstop. The breakthrough for Boston came in the third inning. Again, it was Ellsbury starting things off with a single and Victorino sending a single to right and Ellsbury to third. After Victorino stole second base, Ortiz delivered with a one-out single up the middle to score both runners. Ortiz drove in the Red Sox' fourth run in the fifth inning. His single to right field scored Victorino, who had reached on a throwing error by Loney at first and moved up on Pedroia's walk. In the sixth, Ellsbury and Victorino hit back-to-back triples into the right field corner to produce the fifth Red Sox run. Junichi Tazawa came on with some dominating stuff in the sixth. He set the tone by striking out Red Sox killer Zobrist and Longoria before retiring Loney on a liner to left field. Clay Buchholz couldn't start against AL East rival Baltimore, and now he can't start against the Detroit Tigers in a big American League showdown this weekend either. Buchholz was finally put on the 15-day disabled list by the Red Sox after days of agonizing on a course of action. The official announcement was made after Buchholz threw a side session between games of the doubleheader. Mike Napoli returned to the lineup in Game 1 and went 1 for 3 with two strikeouts, after missing three games and most of a fourth because of illness. Jarrod Saltalamacchia started both ends of the doubleheader after it was learned that Ross was heading to the DL and there was only 40 minutes between games. The Red Sox bullpen has a 1.90 ERA since June 11th. Andrew Miller has struck out 43 batters in 26 innings, a 14.88 per-nine-inning ratio. |
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